Mid July Fishing Report

Flows are down. A buffet of dry flies are here. After two consecutive springs of high flows, the river looks a little different. Shelves are cut different; fish are sitting in some different water. We’ve got some darn good guides here at Cottonwood that can show you all the secrets. Fish can be picky when there are several hatches throughout the day, we’ve got the bugs you need. Still doing boat rentals, shuttles, and fixing up camp. Good times here at Cottonwood. Lots of familiar faces around camp. Quite a few groups doing their annual voyage to the ‘Horn.

Dries: Trico’s in the morning, some sallies/PMD mix in the afternoon, black caddis in the evening. We hate to use the word epic, but that’s exactly what fishing is right now. We’ve been running hoppers with decent success as well. What more could you want? Top flies include CDC tricos, Black Angel, Snowshoe Sally, and Donkey Kong Hopper. Get here and GET SOME!

Nymphs: Lower flows mean less split shot and less leader. A lot more user friendly set ups than what we’ve been running. Fish are in the riffles with clean gravel. Fast and heavy water is the ticket. Sow bugs, caddis pupa, and more sow bugs. About 7 feet of leader, one 3/0 split shot starting to transition to 4x tippet. Fish the skinny water

Streamers: Tandem rigs are the typical set up. Floating or sinking line, your choice. Early mornings, late evenings are your best bet. A yellow and brown skully bugger followed by a small white leech has produced for us. They’ll also eat the big stuff, sex dungeons, and articulated bugs. Toss some meat, see what happens.